I’m writing blind. As this piece goes to the BusinessMirror sports desk, the playoff game between Ateneo and Far Eastern University (FEU) that took place on Wednesday has not yet happened.
The playoff game is the result of the FEU Tamaraws’ successful removal of the Blue Eagles’ twice to beat advantage when they won their Final Four setto last Sunday, 80-67. Because of that, the scenario of another Ateneo-La Salle showdown in the Season 80 basketball finals may be in jeopardy. The Green Archers, whose elims win-loss record (12-2) is less impressive than the Eagles’ 13-1, have claimed the first finals slot ahead of their erstwhile archrivals.
Ateneo, whom everyone assumed would simply slide into the Finals via automatic qualification by sweeping the elims, now has to fight for survival against a suddenly sharp and peaking FEU squad.
Which makes us ponder the what ifs, and imagine two distinct flavors of finals scenarios—both delicious and titillating.
First is the hands-down Classico of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP): Ateneo-La Salle. It’s an age-old rivalry that dates back decades—before there was TV coverage for any local sporting event. Nothing holds up a candle to Ateneo-La Salle battles. No matter if either team has a strong or not so strong lineup for any season, Ateneo and La Salle squads always prepare for their games like it was the last game of their lives.
This year both teams are at the top of their game. With their 1-2 standings, it’s the classic champion-challenger scenario. Wags and fans think that only La Salle is strong enough to counter Ateneo’s dominance this season. And only Ateneo can spoil the mayhem of La Salle’s fast, furious playing style with its disciplined, systematic game.
It would be fun to see the gunfight between the two teams—both boast of effective and battle-ready gunners who can shoot and snipe at any given moment. It would be interesting to see their different kinds of defense and how they would apply them. La Salle’s—frenzied and fiery. Ateneo’s—cool and calculated.
Ateneo-La Salle championships bring in the crowds. Be virtually transported to Cape Horn at Tierra del Fuego in Chile where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet if La Salle meets Ateneo instead of FEU. The waters of the two oceans—blue for the Pacific and green for the Atlantic—meet but never mix. Such is the look, too, of the playing arena when an Ateneo-La Salle game happens. One hemisphere is Blue, and the other Green. And the sounds they make—good Lord!
Ateneo and La Salle crowds are the most expressive and outspoken ever. The electricity in the air is so sharp, you can almost feel a zap as you navigate through seats and aisles. This would make a true box-office finals. But wait, there’s more. A DLSU-FEU Finals would be quite the story, as well. Remember how the season started. Or rather, how the preseason made Season 80 a must watch; in particular, the September 10 play-date between FEU and De La Salle.
The two teams—which have an undercurrent of bad blood between them—had a sensational preseason “quarrel” at the Kadayawan Festival pocket tournament in Davao in August. Playing a highly physical game with hotly contested shots and faceup defense, the two teams went into a full-scale rumble, where all hell broke loose and players on both sides went up-and-at-‘em. The shocking incident was recorded on many cellphone cameras and uploaded on You Tube for good measure.
The two teams met twice in the UAAP with La Salle besting FEU both times. But none of the action in Davao bedeviled their league encounters. Still, the fierce rivalry (shall we say, enmity?) is there and makes for a compelling back story. Their rivalry is decades long, as well.
The FEU-DLSU grudge might have begun in 1991 when the two teams figured in a protest filed by FEU against La Salle in that season’s basketball finals. La Salle won the game but the UAAP Board ordered a replay which La Salle did not honor, so FEU was declared champion that year. The thought and feel of it rankled in the two teams’ collective memories and wouldn’t die for years.
Both teams competed intensely against each other in the late-1990s and mid-2000s, hoping to settle the score on which team was superior to the other in every encounter. FEU beat DLSU twice in the 1997 Finals, then DLSU swept FEU in the 1998 and 2000 Finals.
Both teams haven’t met each other in any Finals of recent memory, the last of which was in 2005. But they have squared off in nine playoff games on the way to meeting other rivals in the finals. This year though, they may meet again if the Tamaraws got the better of the Blue Eagles in yesterday’s Final Four playoff game.
The rivalry between La Salle and Ateneo will always be intense, no matter what court and no matter what century. Tension between La Salle and FEU will always be there, Kadayawan incident or not, thanks to their intertwined pasts and “ideological” differences. So whether FEU or Ateneo won the match yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena, collegiate basketball fans will be sure to witness a top-caliber battle with all cylinders firing and all guns blazing, worthy of replay viewings on the sports.abs-cbn.com web site.
What do you think? Are we going to have a classic, good old fashioned, blue and green finals? Or a fully loaded grudge match between the men in green and the rampaging Tamaraws? Whichever way it goes, the fans win.